Read more about her experience with our market and be sure to stop in and get some of your favorite Fall sausage made daily in our store with natural, hormone and antibiotic-free meat.   Read the Article from CT.com!

by Elizabeth Keyser

Steven Ford calls himself “the last of the Mohicans,” but he’s actually looking more like a trailblazer. A year-and-a-half ago, Ford opened Butcher’s Best in Newtown, which chefs and gastronomes consider one of the finest meat markets in Connecticut.

Ford is a devout practitioner of a movement to return the butcher’s trade to its roots. He’s small-scale and specializes in hyper-local products. In an age when supermarkets receive large shipments of prepacked, ready-to-sell meat products, Ford buys whole, hanging animals—pasture-raised, antibiotic and hormone-free—from farms close by (Berkshire pigs from Rowlands Farm in Oxford and lamb from Sepe Farm in Sandy Hook) and uses every part.

“The idea behind Butcher’s Best is my passion for meat and customer service,” he says. “You see there aren’t signs in my meat case? That’s purposeful. I want the customer to talk to me. I want them to ask, ‘What’s that?’ and I can say, ‘That’s a prime beef short rib from certified black angus beef from Pennsylvania.’” And Ford will tell you how to cook it—that braising meat on the bone creates a richer sauce. Taste his house-made bacon, prosciutto and sausages, and you realize he knows flavor. “I’ve always had a passion for cooking,” he says.

Ford minimizes waste and limits his distribution area. “We control our cutting. Much of the business is made or lost ‘on the block,’” he says. His shop is in the Newtown Deli, which makes hamburgers from his ground meat, and he sells his products to several other delis and restaurants close by.  

Butcher Bob Clark, owner of the Litchfield Locker, a USDA-certified wholesale butcher and retail shop in Litchfield, has seen many changes over the 42 years he’s been in business. But now, he says, he’s  in the midst of a major movement. Today, he has 13 local farms producing pasture-raised animals as wholesale customers; four years ago, it was just two. Most farms sell their meat at farm stands or farmers’ markets, but Clark’s retail customers can order local Blue Moon Farm’s natural, pasture-raised beef at the shop. Blue Moon’s Farmer, Katie Murdock happens to also be a butcher at Litchfield Locker.

Albert Pizzirusso, a butcher and owner of A&S Fine Foods in Norwalk, is another old-school butcher who has adapted his business to current trends. Rather than stuffing its meat case with hundreds of pounds of meat, A&S concentrates on special orders. Why should customers settle for a supermarket’s scrawny frozen rabbit from China, when they can order a plump, fresh rabbit from upstate New York at A&S? “Our customers learn to call us,” he says. “We go to Hunts Point Market [in the Bronx] twice a week. We buy hanging meat. We walk in and see it. You see them pack it and Cryovac it.”

Pizzirusso’s customers want quality. “Instead of eating large amounts of low-quality meat, they eat less and better quality,” he says. Prepared food—braised beef braciole, for instance—is a big part of his business. People have less time to cook. 

Entrepreneurs have taken notice of the trends. The Meat House is a franchise aiming to be “a modern revival of the neighborhood butcher,” says Matt Kormier, general manager of Avon’s Meat House. “We’re trying to get back to the genuine hospitality through butchery.” Their 75-foot refrigerated case is loaded with certified-humane, all-natural meat; the freezer offers frog’s legs, rattlesnake and alligator. Unlike butchers Ford, Clark and Pizzirusso, who apprenticed at young ages, the Meat House’s staff have backgrounds as restaurant cooks. They “break down” primal cuts into steaks and chops, but can  also advise customers on cooking. “People are cooking more in the recession and trying to create elegant meals at home,” Kormier says. The Meat House also has a shop in Newtown, and will open in Branford in April. More are on the horizon.

The New York-based specialty food market Fairway recently opened a megastore in Stamford. A picture of third-generation butcher Ray Venezia’s grandfather hangs over the meat counter. A staff of 30, including 20 butchers, can be seen trimming, cutting and packaging the meat—whole, fresh chickens and boxes of vacuum-packed primal cuts—delivered fresh seven days a week. Customers are fascinated. “When I do demos, taking apart sides of beef, people gather around to watch,” Venezia says. Fairway’s large kosher department gets in primal cuts of humanely slaughtered meat that’s been salted and soaked. “We cut them under rabbinical supervision,” he says.

This fall, Connecticut will get a second small-scale, local, nose-to-tail butcher (after Butcher’s Best) when Ryan Fibiger opens shop in Westport or Fairfield. Every part of the animal will be used, he says—scraps will go to dog food, for example, tallow for candles. Currently Fibiger is apprenticing at Fleisher’s Grass-Fed & Organic Meats of Kingston, N.Y., whose owner, Joshua Applegate, is a leader in the movement to reinvent traditional butchery (and likes to remind people that each cow has just one—one!—hanger steak). Fibiger will source his meat from a 150-mile radius. “It’s very important that everything is local,” he says, “but what it comes down to is that grass-fed organic meat is the best product I’ve ever seen or tasted. It speaks for itself.”

Steve Ford of Butcher’s Best Market on South Main Street took First Place in the Meat category of the 2011 Connecticut Specialty Food competition for his hand-cut, all-natural jerky. Newtown based Cookie Wishes and owner Pamela Ahtchi also took third place honors in the chocolate dessert and sweet topping categories. —File PhotoSome may say that Newtown business owners Steve Ford and Pamela Ahtchi have great taste, especially when it comes to their own personal brands of specialty foods. But when it comes to delivering winning entries into the 10th Annual Connecticut Specialty Food competition, it’s all about tasting good.

Both of these local entrepreneurs walked away with honors as the Connecticut Specialty Food Association (CSFA) held its annual competition on February 17. The CSFA is a subdivision of the Connecticut Food Association and is a nonprofit organization that represents small food businesses based in the state.

This year’s competition featured 329 specialty food items from Connecticut-based manufacturers entered into 38 categories. Mr Ford, who operates Butcher’s Best Market, took First Place in the Meat category for his all natural beef jerky, while Ms Ahtchi and her company Cookie Wishes took home third place awards in both the Dessert/Chocolate and Sweet Topping categories .

A number of other products from neighboring communities also received prizes in categories ranging from wine to pesto to condiments.

According to CSFA Director Tricia Levesque, a panel of 40 judges consisting of local media personalities, food writers, and chefs from the Department of Agriculture’s Farm-to-Chef Program scored products on overall taste/flavor, consistency/texture, appeal, and color. Each judge was assigned to specific categories, responsible for evaluating an average of approximately 30 different products.

Other categories included breads, cheese, confections, CT Grown, fruits and vegetables, gift packs, gluten-free, organic, pasta sauces, savory condiments, snack foods, and many others. A variety of Connecticut beers, ales and distilled spirits were featured, as well.

“It is always amazing to see the diversity and quality of the foods and beverages made by producers right here in Connecticut,” said Ms Levesque. “Each year we seem to find additional entrepreneurs looking to showcase the amazing products they produce. Not only are these products perfect for everyday meals and parties, they also make wonderful gifts. And purchasing products from Connecticut companies also fuels our local economy and helps create jobs here in our state.”

Ms Ahtchi told The Newtown Bee that her idea for her third place winning chocolate dessert, Belgian Chocolate Covered Dates, came to her when she was already selling gift boxes of the famous and authentic Deglet Noor dates and was thinking of other delicious ways to use them.

“The dates are high fiber and very healthy, never mind delicious,” she said. “Then I thought, why not take it to the next level and dip the dates in dark decadent Belgian chocolate?”

Since dark chocolate is also high in antioxidants, Ms Ahtchi said making this dessert treat divinely delicious and decadent was an easy stretch.

Her other winning product, Belgian Chocolate Dessert Sauce with Pecans and Dates, happened when she was “combining some of our own Winton Farms Honey with this amazing dark Belgian chocolate one Sunday afternoon.”

“When we tried it on ice cream, it formed a delicious hard shell that we just loved,” Ms Ahtchi added. “We added our dates and roasted pecans to the mix and we knew we had created a very special and unique dessert sauce.”

Cookie Wishes features a variety of hand-decorated, custom designed wedding cookie favors and gifts that are low in fat, sugar, and high in fiber. And their personalized and monogrammed wedding cookie favors are a particular favorite, along with edible image cookies and photo cookies for business and corporate meetings, special occasion parties, and holiday events.

Find out more at cookiewishesonline.com.

Mr Ford, who has been a meat cutter and food entrepreneur for more than 30 years, said his hand-cut jerky was the first specialty food product he ever made, and it has been a favorite of his and his customers since he produced his first few batches.

“We always start with hand-cut, certified antibiotic- and hormone-free angus beef from either here in Connecticut or Pennsylvania,” he said. “But it’s the secret cut we put on the meat that makes the jerky so popular, because it allows for a bit of chew without the toughness of other jerky products.”

Once the meat is cut, it heads into an all-natural marinade of spices, molasses, and soy sauce.

“And we don’t smoke our jerky,” he said, because the preserving technique is “just too overpowering.”

When you bite into a piece of Butcher’s Best jerky, Mr Ford said, “you taste each layer from the marinade down to the beef.”

Sold by the bag for easy grab-and-go convenience, the local jerky runs about $30 a pound or $3.75 for a bog containing four to six pieces.

Butchers Best Market, at 79 South Main Street, also provides quality cuts to restaurants, caterers and chefs as well daily selections of fish products, aged, smoked and cured to customers’ specifications. For more information, visit butchersbestmarket.com.

Consumers looking for any Connecticut specialty food products can visit www.ctspecialtyfood.org or ask for them at local markets and grocers.

Local Companies Among Crop Of Specialty Food Winners

The following local entrepreneurs and companies were among the statewide winners of the 10th Annual Connecticut Specialty Food competition.

Meat

First Place, Butcher’s Best Market/Steve Ford, Newtown: Beef Jerky

Dessert/Chocolate

Third Place, Cookie Wishes/Pamela Ahtchi, Newtown

Belgian Chocolate Truffle Dates with Sprinkled Pistachios

Also Sweet Topping

Third Place, Belgian Chocolate Dessert Sauce with Pecans & Dates

CT Grown

First Place, Winding Drive Corp, Woodbury: Apple Pie Jam

Pesto

First Place, The Gracious Gourmet, Bridgewater: Lemon Artichoke Pesto

Also Pickle, Relish, or Tapenade

Third Place: Chili Red Pepper Tapenade

Savory Condiment

First Place, White Silo Winery, Sherman: Quince Mustard

Second Place, Winding Drive Corp, Woodbury: Habanera Gold Jelly

Also Second Place: Roasted Garlic Caramelized Onion (spread)

Third Place, White Silo Winery, Sherman: Black Currant Mustard

Wine – Fruit

First Place, Jones Winery, Shelton: Black Currant

Also Third Place: First Blush

Wine – Red

Second Place, Jones Winery, Shelton: Cabernet Franc

Wine – White

First Place, Jones Winery, Shelton: Pinot Gris